Davy Jones has died but Michael Nesmith has returned to bandmates Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz. Their tour satisfies a never-ending demand for Monkees nostalgia.

The drummer of the famed TV show band The Monkees, which was so popular in the late 1960s that it outsold The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, says he sees his spot in the band as just a role, similar to ones he's played in "Aida" and "Grease" on Broadway and "Hairspray" in London.

"I was cast in that television show," Dolenz says by phone from Los Angeles, where he lives. "I was playing the wacky drummer, and singing the songs and playing the drums, and acting and improvising and playing the part on the television show."

And yet, there's no denying it was the role of Dolenz's life — so much so that, more than 45 years after the series was canceled, Dolenz again finds himself on a tour with fellow Monkees Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith (the fourth member, Davy Jones, died in 2012). The show comes to the Sands Bethlehem Event Center on May 27.

"I'll always be associated with The Monkees, there's no question about that. But I'm not a Monkee every day," Dolenz says with a laugh. "I can imagine going back and re-creating that role, and that is how I personally have always looked at The Monkees.

"It's like Leonard Nimoy going back to 'Star Trek' and playing Mr. Spock."

The new tour is the third by Dolenz, 69, Tork, 72, and Nesmith, 71, who came together after Jones' death from a heart attack at age 66. Nesmith hadn't been on an extensive tour in 25 years.

Dolenz, Tork and Jones toured as The Monkees off and on since MTV revived interest in the series with a marathon rerun broadcast in 1986 that prompted a 20th reunion. The original lineup, including Nesmith, recorded a comeback album, "Justus," that hit the Top 200 in 1996 and did a short U.K. tour in 1997.

Dolenz, Tork and Jones were scheduled to play the Mountain Laurel Center in Bushkill, Pike County, in 2011, but the group cancelled the performance and the rest of its tour because the tour went on longer than they wanted. Jones died months later.

Dolenz says there wasn't anything about Jones' and Nesmith's relationship that prevented a reunion while Jones was alive. For decades, Dolenz says, "there's always been talk" about reuniting with Nesmith, "and we invited Mike on every tour that we did."

It was just that Nesmith was busy with his career in production and distribution of television shows and movies, Dolenz says.

But when the surviving three got together "for a memorial for Davy at someone's house … someone had suggested that we do a memorial concert in tribute to him.

"Mike had not been on the road for literally decades, but he said, 'Yeah, I'll do that. That would be great,'" Dolenz says, "so we thought maybe we'd ask to do two or three concerts. And then an agent got a hold of it and said, Well, why don't you just go on tour and do, like, a few weeks?

"We talked about it a lot, and I went out and visited Mike, and we sat down and played through some of the stuff — you know, just to make sure he was comfortable doing it, and he finally said, 'Yeah, I'll do that.'" The three did just a dozen shows on that tour, then toured again last summer.

Those initial shows included a lengthy tribute to Jones, part of which showed him singing along on a video screen. "It wasn't the official Davy Jones memorial tour or anything, but we definitely paid a homage and a tribute to him," Dolenz says.

He says the new tour still will acknowledge Jones, but the tribute angle has been decreased. "It's two years later, you know?" he says. Dolenz, who with Jones was The Monkees' primary vocalist, says he sings Jones' vocals on songs such as "Daydream Believer" and "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You." Dolenz says they always sang each other's songs.

He says all The Monkees have done solo tours — even Nesmith since the first reunion — and Jones also sang Dolenz's leads on "I'm a Believer" and "Last Train to Clarksville." "And of course we all sang Mike's songs, even when he wasn't there," Dolenz says.

"That's one of the wonderful things about this tour, is over the years we've always sung a lot of Nesmith material, because it's so wonderful," Dolenz says. "And it's really nice to have him back doing the vocals, because I used to do a high, Everly Brothers-kind-of harmony to him in those songs, and it was a great sound. And we're doing that again."

Asked what compelled the three to do yet another tour, Dolenz says, laughingly, "Well, that's sort of our job. [Laughs] Um, I'm not sure how to answer that question. That's what rock 'n' roll bands do."

Clearly there remains a fascination with The Monkees.

The band was together just four years originally, but produced 11 platinum and eight gold albums, four of which went to No. 1. It also had 12 Top 40 singles, six of which went gold and five that hit No. 1, including "I'm a Believer" and "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone."

Its television show had just two seasons, but has been in syndication since.